How to Catch a Polar Bear by Stacy DeKeyser

Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster

Discussion Guide coming soon!

Coming in June 2023

Nick, Ace, and Penny are looking forward to the best summer ever at the zoo! Paper routes, polar bears, frozen custard–and lots and lots of monkeys–are just a hint of what’s in store, in this funny middle-grade novel set in 1948 Milwaukee.

: Courtesy of Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, the University of Utah

: Courtesy of the Milwaukee County Zoo Library and Archives

Reviews:

“Wonderfully imaginative with just a touch of earnestness.” — Kirkus Reviews

Margaret K. McElderry/Simon & Schuster

Discussion Guide coming soon!

Behind the Scenes:

Many bits and pieces of How to Catch a Polar Bear are based on true events:

There was once a real-life broadcast from the zoo in Milwaukee. It was a TV broadcast (not radio, as in the book), and it took place right on Monkey Island! (And here’s the funniest part: I found this old footage after I wrote about a radio broadcast from the zoo.) Here’s a link to a very short video of that TV broadcast. (Video is from the WTMJ Newsfilm Collection, courtesy of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Libraries, WTMJ, and the Wisconsin Historical Society.)

Here’s another video, of a paperboy delivering newspapers on his bicycle sometime in the 1950s. Pay close attention at around 0:35 on the video. Can you see that newspaper curve around the porch post and onto the porch? Pretty impressive! (Video courtesy of David Hoffman)